Audacious hope

 

2 Corinthians 3:12

Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,

Boldness

Borne out of hope

What does that look like?

Is it like picking up a megaphone

in the pedestrian precinct

to tell folks they’re going to hell?

Or is it like taking a peek behind the altar

to see what the priest keeps stashed there?

Maybe it’s sidling into a pew without genuflecting

the holy statues are covered up just now - maybe Jesus can’t see either 

Or maybe it’s practising the quiet belief

that holding one view does not exclude another

that ambivalence is possible in a complex world

Not just possible 

but necessary if peace has any chance 

of breaking out

Now that’s an audacious hope.

That’s what boldness looks like.

(Liz Crumlish Lent 2024)

A child is born

A child is born

Born into a weary world

A world longing for change

A world longing for justice

A world longing for peace

A child is born

Born among people living in poverty

Existing at the whim of oppressors

Caught up in political unrest

with the rich so far removed

from those forced to queue at food banks

And decision makers out of touch with the realities

of those who have to choose between warmth in their homes

or food for their children

A child is born

Born into an economy

in which life is cheap

And revenue from the arms trade 

is valued more highly than life itself

While nations that prosper from the machinations of war

turn away the refugees who find a way out 

of the carnage they cannot survive

A child is born

and in that vulnerable flesh

lies hope for all the children of the world

2000 years ago - and today

A child is born

Come, Lord Jesus, come.

(Liz Crumlish)

Embracing the darkness

 Daily Advent Reflections may be found here

1 Peter 3:15

Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;

In this season I sense the nudge

to move from optimism to hope

For optimism encourages me 

to reframe the darkness

While hope exhorts me 

to embrace it

After almost two years

for the most part reframing

This Advent brings opportunity 

to stop and embrace

To sit with the darkness

until I can resist the urge

to flee or attack 

To sit with the darkness

until stillness settles in

To sit with the darkness

until I can acknowledge

the parts of self I’d rather stay hidden

To sit with the darkness

until I can show some love for the wounds

that make me all that I am

To sit with the darkness

until I can pick off the scabs

knowing that more healing is possible 

To sit with the darkness

not anxious about finding light

but to sit with darkness

until hope dawns.

Dredging up hope

 

Daily Advent Reflections may be found here

Psalms 25:4-5

Make me to know your ways, O LORD;

teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth, and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all day long.

Advent

Season of hope

Season of light

Season of joy

Season of peace

It seems that every year

we have to work harder

dig deeper

look longer

for the signs of the season

for those signs

of hope

and light

and joy

and peace 

They are more elusive than ever

in a world that is burning

with fear and rage

in a world where we barely turn our heads

at the ever increasing toll of death

from pandemic, from war, from terrorism, from displacement 

all refugees in a world that has no room for love

May we walk through this season

with our heads held high

so that we can look the darkness full in the eye

pledging not to look away

May we be prepared

to do that hard work to which we are called

to be harbingers

of hope

and light

and joy 

and peace

even and especially when our hearts are breaking

May we simply live into and out of love

by the power of the God of Advent, 

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.